Johannesburg - Cosatu on Saturday denied any involvement
in leaking suspended general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi's charge sheet to the
media.

"[We] challenge anyone who makes such claims [that
we leaked the report] to substantiate or withdraw them," Cosatu spokesperson
Patrick Craven said in a statement.

"Cosatu never intended to inform the media about the
charges being delivered, but was forced to do so only after this information
had already been leaked and published by others."

Turning to social networking site Twitter on Saturday,
Vavi said: "Leaking charges is gross violation of my rights! It's an
attempt to conduct media trial hoping trump up allegations will dent my
reputation."

His spokesperson John Dludlu said Vavi felt he was being
treated unfairly.

"Like the continuous selective leaks of details of
the forensic probes against him during the five months of his illegal
suspension, we believe the purpose of this week's latest leaks is to subject Mr
Vavi to a media trial with the hope that some, if not all, of the trumped up
charges against him will stick like mud," Dludlu said in a statement.

On Friday, The Mail & Guardian reported that the
Cosatu leadership wanted Vavi fired from his position without any notice.

The newspaper said it was in possession of the 33-page
charge sheet dated 13 January 2014.

The charge sheet was served on Vavi last week, five
months after he was put on special leave by the trade union federation.

Charges

Vavi was facing nine charges, according to the report.
They were:

Recruitment and employment of the junior Cosatu employee
without going through the relevant challenges

Relationship with the Cosatu employee

The conversion of
the junior to permanent employee

Supervision of the
woman he was accused of having an affair with – alleged failure by Vavi to
supervise her work performance has allegedly led to travel expenses amounting
to R483 737 in 2012 and R778 624 in 2013 not accounted for

Distribution of internal grievance and response on
Twitter before Cosatu could hear the grievance

Personal expenses and personal travel paid for using a
Cosatu credit card

Claiming during a Carte Blanche interview that the
administrative secretary of Cosatu had interviewed the junior employee for her
position

Breach of
suspension conditions

Utterances
derogatory of Cosatu and its leadership, which include a statement posted on
Numsa's website shortly after Vavi was suspended in which he questioned the
motive of his suspension.

Disciplinary
inquiry

According to the newspaper Vavi's disciplinary inquiry
would be chaired by one of the country's top legal minds, Advocate Wim Trengove.
He would be authorised to make findings on all the charges and also decide on
the appropriate sanction.

Vavi would be allowed legal representation at the
inquiry.

Dludlu said Vavi hoped the country would see through the
"malicious agenda”.

"The basic rule at all times is that the onus and
the burden of proof lies with the one making allegations. Mr Vavi is no
different - he remains innocent until proven guilty."

Dludlu said Vavi was confident of his innocence and would
be vindicated.

24.com publishes all comments posted on articles provided that they adhere to our Comments Policy. Should you wish to report a comment for editorial review, please do so by clicking the 'Report Comment' button to the right of each comment.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

Saving your profile

Settings

News24 allows you to edit the display of certain components based on a location.
If you wish to personalise the page based on your preferences, please select a
location for each component and click "Submit" in order for the changes to
take affect.

Your Location*

Weather*

Always remember my setting

Saving your settings

Facebook Sign-In

Hi News addict,

Join the News24 Community to be involved in breaking the news.

Log in with Facebook to comment and personalise news, weather and listings.